Saidah Belo-Osagie is from right in SNL‘s New York backyard, with the Nigerian-American comedian, writer, and actor having created the one-woman show Saidah Gets Closure. Her comedy is described as more character-based, which should see her slot in well alongside fellow nuanced performers James Austin Johnson and Ashley Padilla.
Reiter, meanwhile, comes more from the sketch world, having already amassed more than a million followers across various online platforms for her short films (her parody Hunger Games [But Better] boasts some 13 million views) and her work in sketch series American High Shorts and Comic Life. The Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin native also appeared as Tara in The Chair Company from former SNL hands Tim Robinson and Zach Kanin, which couldn’t have hurt her chances.
The hiring of Belo-Osagie and Reiter will see Season 52’s cast remain at 17 members. All last season’s featured players (Tommy Brennan, Jeremy Culhane, Ben Marshall, Kam Patterson, and Veronika Slowikowska) are set to return, with former JV players Jane Wickline and breakout star Ashley Padilla being promoted to main cast alongside the also-returning Mikey Day, Michael Che, Andrew Dismukes, Colin Jost, Marcello Hernandez, Sarah Sherman, James Austin Johnson and the ageless Kenan Thompson.
Saturday Night Live, as ever in recent years, has caught heat for a lack of diversity in its cast and writers room, so at least Belo-Osagie’s casting will mean there’s at least one Black woman in the cast following Ego Nwodim’s departure before Season 51. The cast’s gender split bumps a little more even as well, as last year’s 5 to 12 women to men split changes to a still out of whack 6 to 11.
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